Candlelight and
Predicting fortune by the direction of smoke
A secret scroll.

I always visit the nearby Hikawa Shrine for my first visit of the year, and while I'm there I always draw a fortune slip. In addition to "good luck" and "bad luck," the fortune slips at Hikawa Shrine also have something called "Hei." I thought it would be half good and half bad, but there are only one or two good things. I've drawn this "Hei" for three years in a row. It seems like I have some kind of connection with it.

This "Hi no Okami Kichikyo Goden" is a hand-painted picture scroll that tells fortunes by candle flame and the direction of its smoke. It is a secret book with illustrations and explanations.Of 11 typesThere is only one good fortune. There is no detailed information about who wrote it or what it predicts, but unlike omikuji, it seems that it was a fortune telling that was done with careful preparation.

The illustrations are cute, but the results are unexpectedly severe. Good fortune doesn't come so easily. This scroll may still be teaching us that life is not so easy.If you are satisfied with good fortune, it's the end.



Text by Shigenori Tsuzuki